WELL-CALF: precision agricultural solution to improve health and productivity across the dairy-beef sector

"This proposed project is focused on developing a precision agriculture technology solution for optimising the production efficiency of the dairy-beef sector, through improvements in health and management throughout life.The product will consist of the following components:

1\. A data collection system integrating different sources of information from across the value chain using novel and advanced sensing and farm records containing the required environment and animal information.

2\. A data analysis platform which will continuously analyse the data sources and provide the appropriate real-time and automated health and performance flags to optimise intervention strategies.

3\. A decision support system to optimise health and management protocols. This will be developed using expert advice from across the supply chain, including veterinary and animal science expertise.

The project will develop the first cloud-based decision support platform to support different levels of decision making. This will include farm-level decisions (e.g. health management, nutrition) through to policy and practice decisions at systems level. The project will also develop the first precision agriculture integrated monitoring system specifically designed for calves for the early detection of important diseases such as scour and pneumonia during the rearing period. This will allow for early intervention and optimise treatment and management practices at an individual animal level. The overall aim is to reduce disease incidence and spread, reduce antibiotic usage, improve productivity and optimise efficiency."